


Tongue-tied and twisted (just an Earth-bound misfit, I)

by icywind



Series: Lepidoptera [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Needs a Hug, M/M, Pining, Pre-Slash, Steve probably needs a hug too, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icywind/pseuds/icywind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint is never going to live up to Steve, especially (he thinks), in Phil's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tongue-tied and twisted (just an Earth-bound misfit, I)

Clint is not jealous. Really. He’s not. 

He doesn’t have any reason to be jealous he tells himself as he watches Coulson talking to Steve. Coulson doesn’t belong to him and him alone, he’s allowed to have friends, deserves to have friends and lots of them. And who better to have as a friend than Captain America? Phil was probably squeeing like a fanboy on the inside right now.

Really. He’s happy for Phil. His boyhood idol is turning out to be every bit as amazing as the stories said.

It’s just, the way Phil looks at Steve…the adoration and the pride and something extra Clint doesn’t really have a name for. No one’s ever looked at Clint like that. He’s scared though, that if his own mask ever slips everyone will see *him* look at Phil like that.

And Clint can’t even be mad at Steve either, he’s just too damn nice. And perfect. With perfect beautiful wings: reddish brown bordered by blue dots and a band of yellow. They never were injured, never looked as ragged and tattered as Clint’s usually did. 

At the thought, he shifted his wings; which were, for once, mostly whole and undamaged. Something he technically had Steve to thank for. While no one had been able to reproduce the super soldier serum, they had been able to learn a great deal about wing care and healing from the results of Project Rebirth. Easily half of modern medicine’s wing treatments had come from studying Steve.

Steve, who often had his wings spread wide open, comfortable with the world around him, confident that no one would do anything to them. Clint was aware that they also served to gather warmth for a man who still had nightmares about the ice. Clint also knew that they sometimes were all too fitting of the name of the butterfly he shared them with, because somewhere along the way Steve had become something of a friend to him as well.

So really, he shouldn’t be jealous. 

But, as Phil laughed at something Steve said, he found he totally was.

  


  


  


[](http://smg.photobucket.com/user/icywind/media/bfly/mcloaksm.jpg.html)

**Author's Note:**

> Steve's wings are a Nymphalis antiopa or Mourning Cloak (in North America anyway). That pic c/o [Butterfly Nature](http://butterflynature.com/index.html).
> 
> The timeline in this verse is a little different than the canon MCU.


End file.
